Hello, years later.

 Well…I got busy with the joy of being a grandmother. But better late than never.  I’m back.  Also, FA ebook and Instagram got almost all of my posting, but I have a lot of affection for my blog, so I will post a bunch of photos, and try to stay more current.

Now What?

Let me start with what you all probably already know.  I believe in God, and in his son, Jesus Christ, and while I'm at it, the Holy Spirit, 3 in 1. (They are very real in my life in such a way that I won't get into now lest I miss the point of my post. Ask if you'd like to know.)

Why do I say so now?  What difference can this mean to my painting?

I am now faced with a question I didn't expect to reckon with:  what exactly do I paint, and to whose glory?

On one hand, I want my work to be marketable.  It's practical to want to earn money, and we all need it in this world.  There are certain subjects that sell, that are fun to paint and that pay the bills.

But then...there is originality and the work of creativity...being original:  Making that sound that only you can make as a uniquely created instrument. It couldn't exist before, because you didn't exist before.  That kind of work takes courage and chutzpah, which marries audacity to courage.  It's work that may be good, may be bad...but it's about the journey...a path of exploration.

There is a safe route, and then there is the road which attract critics, detractors and also the enlightened who can appreciate invention, even if they don't like the actual invention.  It also might not sell.

     

     God willing, I'm always going to be a student (even should I miraculously become as successful a painter as some of my favorite greats). Exploration is fun, though not usually marketable.  Do I strike a balance between marketability and unique creation?  Do I have the chops to do that?

(I wasn't allowed to explore being an artist very much as a child. I had all of the artistic impulses, but they were mainly silenced and suppressed in school..With the exception of my 4th grade year with my best teacher, Floy Schrage.  She valued creativity as highly as mathematics and spelling...maybe even a trifle more highly.  I'll always be grateful for her.)

Art students copy masters n order to learn to paint.  But...there comes a point in the journey when they need to see what they can do.  Risk themselves.

I'm at a crossroads.

I've already painted things I know people want, and they've sold.  But it's a tremendous feeling to paint what I've wanted to paint and have it sell.  It's a much more daunting to do that, but it's also infinitely more satisfying.

I'll say this...even when I painted what people have shown they want, I've done it my way.  It has my style and so it does have that uniqueness. But, when I paint what I've been inspired to paint, or something in a flight of fancy and it has been received...well..that's an experience I'd like to repeat.

Meanwhile, I feel how tentative I am in searching for subject matter.  It is exactly here where my faith enters in..I don't know what it's going to look like just yet, but I'm praying.

I know that no two of us are alike...I want to have that courage to make that unique sound.  God, help me.  I'm not even sure I know how to do that. Though I have done it before.

God is the creator..he can certainly teach me how to create. I pray that he will show me.

Thanks for listening...

Evelyn

Here was a flight of fancy:

I gave it to the one who loved it when she saw it.  It was to be a trio as I played with different color ideas.  The other canvas is just waiting to be painted. I never prepared the third canvas.

I will paint the second soon, it will be fun to make artistic decisions that have nothing to do with line or subject matter.  I might even be bold and make the third after all...

Joined a local art class for at least a month

This little work is flawed, but it represents getting out there again.  I'm so rusty.

This was painted in Acrylics from a wallet-sized photo, and it's 9 x12.

I'm grateful to make new painting friends.  They're more important to me than they know or I knew.

I hope I can keep participating. 

I should be prouder of this little painting.  I just see the flaws, but the kinder part of me sees someone getting back in the saddle and is happy about it.

Church, installment 1, My Early Years.

Hello again, dear Church.
It's been a while since we've truly communed.  You are such an interesting study.

I wasn't initially raised going to visit you, Church, except for infant baptism and the rare occasions when my mom would dress us up to take us to visit you on the odd Easter. You were like school, that is you smelled like school, only you were dressier, shorter in length, and you contained more adults than you did children. Like school, I felt that you were something that was required of and happening to me.

Like school, I still got grouped with children my age and in that group, we outnumbered the lone adult.  And also like school, I still felt shy, conspicuous and socially awkward among my assigned peers. Unlike school, you told more stories and you used felt dolls on a felt board to act the stories out, like a static puppet show.. so you were a bit more creative.  That bit of creativity was not lost on me.  It distracted me from your antiseptic, basement-y smell, towering adult in charge, and from the embarrassment of not knowing any of the answers.  Very much like school, I was glad when you were over.  I didn't think it very desirable that you were held on a Sunday feeling you should have been 'instead' of school, not 'in addition' to school.

I walked away thinking: it's not fun to come to church once in a blue moon.  You probably have to attend regularly to feel you belong.

(Next installment to follow...the years of going voluntarily)

Monday. Leap Year Day

SO, ever since people figured out you can make money blogging, I got messed up.  Of course I'd love to be one of those money-making people.  Problem is...to be one of those people you have to follow 10 steps, monetize, force yourself, etc....  you also have to self-promote.

  I'm so sick of self-promoting e-mails,etc. I have helped others promote.  But...I think I understand now that that is not who I (personally) want to be.  I'd love a readership, but not at the expense of being who I am: an erratically paced person trying to figure out how best to live my life.  People self-promote for millions of reasons, one of them being that they are trying to make a living and support a family.  I salute you if you are one of those people. Honestly.  That is very hard to do. 

I have the same need for money as everybody else, but my body has it's own ideas.  It's absolutely insisted that I stay small and private and keep my stressors at as low a level as possible (as humanely possible); if I don't stay within my limitations I have to spend copious amounts of time trying to recover from deviating. Those times are just terrible.

So I am blogging again, at my pace. For my enjoyment.  And once I say it once on Facebook, that will be the extent of my self promoting.  There's a real freedom in that, actually. This blog is for me, but it's public for those who care to visit.  A comment to let me know you stopped by would be just great, but I don't anticipate any. The web has gotten so huge. These days traffic comes from social networking.  

Speaking of social networking, I have downsized on Facebook.  GOOD GRIEF, it so political.  I'm so sick of politics I could scream. (Once.  Then I'd get exhausted or get a headache and regret the outburst, so NO.)

We started going to church again.  We attended a perspective member seminar on Saturday and both decided "yes".

Church.  That's another topic.  So, I'm going to post this and say adieu to this post and write one called Church.

Starting up again!

I have started toying with lettering.  Some quotes turn out very well..others not so much.  But that's the beauty of being a beginner.  The beauty is in the effort and in pressing through the vulnerability of showing your flawed new work.

I'm going to post the successes and the not-immediately-rewarding efforts.

I have one of those today.

It's a good baseline piece that proves that there is still so much to learn and that I am still tentative.

Still, as the first one I'm going to post, I wish it were better!

Thanks for checking in! Say a prayer for me as I learn, please!

2" x 3" tree

Trees

BY JOYCE KILMER

I think that I shall never see 

A poem lovely as a tree. 

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest 

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; 

A tree that looks at God all day, 

And lifts her leafy arms to pray; 

A tree that may in Summer wear 

A nest of robins in her hair; 

Upon whose bosom snow has lain; 

Who intimately lives with rain. 

Poems are made by fools like me, 

But only God can make a tree.

Babies, babies, babies!!

It's been a fun season as my daughter and her two friends who are like sisters have each given birth to healthy baby girls within the last 6 months, making me at once a grandmother (MumZ) for the first time and a fairy godmother for my two little girls who are like grand-nieces.

These little girls are each wonderfully precious and unique. I'm so grateful that God saw fit to send them all within months of each other.

So what does a first time grandmother and fairy godmother do to express my love to these little babydolls?

I have knit, crocheted, made an origami mobile, given teas and hosted little get together for the new group of little sisters/friends/cousins/ fairy godchildren!  I don't know how many projects I've had the pleasure of completing, but this post is dedicated to sharing the photos that I have taken!

Art, in it's various forms is a wonderful way to convey the love!

Above you see the Origami Mobile, and the giant granny square baby blanket and window swag.  You can kind of see the crib skirt.

Here is a closer view of mobile:

Below is a close up, note our dear daughter and granddaughter in the photo!

Here is the crib skirt I crocheted for Wilow's crib.  It took forever, but was so worth the result!

 Finding and redoing this crib for her nursery at our house was a labor of love, and I am very gratified by the results.

Note the blanket on this one and especially note my adorable granddaughter, Willow!

I made two of this blanket, one for my granddaughter, and one for her little bestie, my fairy goddaughter, Avra.

And now for the baby Hats!!

I'll post more hat pictures as soon as I gather them together.

 Here is a dimly lit photo of sweet, little Avra with her dear Mommy, Emily.  Lt. blue is a great color for Avra!  This hat is a ribbed cap, trimmed in white, embellished by a bold white flower.

This hat, I made for a fairy goddaughter, born  in Israel.  I just completed it, it's a ribbed bucket hat topped with crocheted curls and delicately, subtly trimmed with a feminine edging.

I learned a lot making each hat.  I also discovered again that I learn best while doing!

You've already seen this image, it was designed for my granddaughter, Willow, and used as the invitation to the baby shower we threw for our daughter on the occasion of her first child, Willow.

Thank you friends who joined my writing challenge via Facebook! We did it'

Writing Challenge/Comrades needed!

 

 

Who would like to join me in a 5 day commitment to writing.  I am getting back in the saddle and would love your company as I go.   To my writing friends:  if you'd like  accountability and camaraderie, just let me know below or on facebook that you'll be with me in the next 5 days, and at the end of your writing session, post your achievement here or on the Facebook link.

 

1. Say you're in

2. Set a goal     

3. Post that you have achieved your daily goal i.e. 1500 words

4.encourage each other/celebrate/feel good about it!

 

I got this idea from my excellent friend, Kim Avery, but I was too late to join her writer's challenge.

Let me know if you are in.

Love you!

 

This.

I feel myself inspired.  Don't you just love a kaleidoscope?

Same stuff.  Same essential elements turned on their sides and seen afresh.

What might have been hideous, horrid defeat,  when seen through the correct lens, can be a thing of true beauty?  Remarkable!

I may very well have just found my writer's/painter's voice.

This new outlook, this wonderful sense of freedom I am enjoying at the moment..well, it may not last.

But it's so beautiful now. So encouraging.  How do I keep the view?

When seen without the proper lens, some things can be soul wrenching, shaming, terrifying.

Some things actually are.

But to me, kaleidoscopes are a reminder that God can exchange ashes for beauty.

The seemingly unremarkable, into the intricate, masterfully woven, and awe-inspiring.

Sometimes I wish life weren't so painful. But...consider the alternative.  The lack of contrast between sorrow and joy, shame and acceptance, bondage and freedom. Pain and pleasure.  Well.. In a way, these opposites sort of inform each other.  I wonder if the truest beauty requires contrast.  I think, maybe.

Can it be that we serve a God so creative, magnificent, loving and wise that as we spend time on his lap, crying it out, receiving his comfort, stutter-breathing, that he at some point hands us his kaleidoscope that we can somehow understand a greater reality... A beauty made of shards and fragments.. An actual masterpiece made from broken, shattered little pieces? 

There will be more on this subject.  This takes my breath.  I need some time to sit in this.  Love you.

Willow by the Water 2, work # 102

Wanted to experiment with a different style.  But, have to admit I like Willow by the Water 1 better.

Still, I think it's important to keep experimenting.  You never know what you'll learn/create.

So...here it is, still unsigned.  Not sure where I want to go with it..

Willow by the Water 1 commissioned, completed #101!

I love seeing it in a book!  I'd love to illustrate more.

Willow I sold

I am very encouraged this morning to have sold Willow 1 and to be commissioned to do another.

I was thinking of Psalm 1 when I was working on it, and the person who commissioned it did it because it reminded her of Psalm 1.

Gee, I hope this keeps up!

Thanking God this morning!

Willow Tree by Water I, work # 100

I am very excited to have completed a drawing, start to finish today.

One neat thing: a lovely friend gave me this encouraging chocolate gift.  Thank you, friend! :-)

Coco, stained glass style #99

Here is what may very well be the most interrupted/intermitten drawing in my portfolio.  But today, I decided to 'complete' it.  I signed it for the sake of closure.  I numbered it in the optimism that I'll continue drawing daily.. 

Leonardo da Vinci once said, "Art is never finished, only abandoned."

#98 girl with balloons, II

Yesterday's graphite sketch that I went on to colorize, left me wanting to try again, this time without quite so much graphite.  I like the cleaner look, so will likely reattempt yesterday's drawing again.

 This one, Girl with Balloons is graphite, colored-pencil on sketch paper.  9x12

#97 Holland with Balloons

This was a sketch that I decided to colorize.  The balloon theme reminds me of a balloon moment I had when I was her age.  I had such fun with this, I think I'll revisit it later, maybe as a painting..

Recipes: Homemade Granola

I had been giving myself a hard time for not painting more often throughout the week, neglecting to realize that What I was actually doing was splitting my time between 2 passions. Painting and Cooking/Baking! Home cooking from the heart is definitely an art, and so I will begin respecting it more and posting some of my creations.

By popular demand :), here is my Granola Recipe.  I invented it myself, and a thrilled that it's successful!

My Granola.  Evelyn Glover

Preheat oven to 250

Have at the ready for last step:

1/3 C dried Blueberries

1/3 C dried Cherries

1/3 C currants

In a large bowl, mix:

3 C Rolled Oats

1   C  Chopped Pecans

1   C  Chopped Walnuts

1/2 C Sunflower Seed Kernels

2 T ground flax seed (I do mine in spice grinder)

1/4 C + 2 T of Brown Sugar

1  t  Kosher Salt

Sprinkle in lots of cinnamon. I use 2 types.

In a smaller bowl combine:

2   T Honey

1/4 C Pure Maple Syrup

1/4 C Vegetable Oil

Now, pour wet ingredients on dry, tossing with a Granny Fork to coat the dry.

It won't be a very wet mixture

Spray 2 large cookie sheets with cooking spray oil and divide the coated oat mixture, spreading it out flat on each sheet.

Bake 15 Minutes, then stir and redistribute for even browning.

Do that 5times.

After 1 hr 15 minutes you'll be done baking.

Take out of oven, sprinkle with the dried fruit from step one,

Wait for it to cool.

It's fantastic, if I don't say so myself!

Enjoy!

Evelyn 

Work #96 Holland's 25th Birthday Present

This started surrealistic, but took a turn towards the fantastic when our daughter fell in love with it.  I must admit that from the inception, it looked like something she'd love and I knew ultimately it would be hers.

Anyone who knows Holland, knows this is right up her alley!

Happy 25th, dearest daughter.

Here is a closer look:

Holland loves it, but asked me to emphasize the fairy, so I increased her glow and de-emphasized the Monarch Butterfly a little bit.

Work 94 Blasted Artichokes!

I started too thick, didn't establish contact with the table, grew sick of my subject, painted without heart.  Also, I tickled -vs- stroked with the brush. Wow!

  Behold: The Blasted Artichokes.

Work abandoned and signed  (not entirely proudly) 7/13/13 (maybe its the date?...)

Work 95 Poppies

This was a palette knife excersize in class. I like how it turned out, after all! 

Lesson learned on this one: silence my cast shadows.  I have a tendency to make them far too lively.

I just realized I didn't paint the table top.. There is time to calm the shadow.. I'll be back..

I am missing some of my needed darks, but, I think the shadow looks quieter.. Only too solid.  But that's for another day..

Okay. Time to stop!

Now I'm happier because it's more nuanced. There is play with reflected color. An element whose absence was more felt than seen.